Encouragement grounded in Scripture
Rooted in truth. Anchored in Christ.
New reflections weekly.
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Sunshine in the Storms
The one who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is like the light of the morning at sunrise, like a morning without clouds, like the gleaming of the sun on new grass after rain. 2 Samuel 23:3-4
I am not a fan of rain. In fact, I absolutely hate it. Rainy days make me want to find the deepest, darkest hole to crawl into…seriously! This same sentiment also fits my mood when the rain starts to pour and I walk through the many storms of life. The verse above, however, reminds me that no matter what storms I face, no matter how many cloudy days I have in life, the sun will eventually shine again, and something new will be made from the chaos and madness.
I have been nominated for the Sunshine Award by Vickie at http://wateringcanblog.com. Stop by her blog! She has some amazing posts on faith, family, and even DIY ideas! Thanks so much for the nomination, Vickie!
The rules are:
1. Include the Sunshine Award badge in your post.
2. Link to the blogger who nominated you.
3. Answer 10 questions about yourself.
4. Nominate 10 other bloggers to receive the award.
5. Link to your nominees and let them know you nominated them.
6. Create 10 questions for your nominees to answer.
1. Who would play you if your life were made into a movie? Wow! Never had to think of this before. Probably, Jennifer Lawrence-because she is clumsy, mouthy, and SO not Hollywood!
2. Where in the world would you most like to travel? I enjoy traveling in general, so anywhere outside of my hometown is a treat for me. However, my travel bucket list is definitely New York City and Italy.
3. What is the best thing about blogging? I started as a way to chronicle all the journaling I was doing at 4 am in the mornings when I couldn’t sleep. The best thing about the blogging experience has been being able to truly see God in the day to day chaos we call life, and sharing these experiences with others.
4. What is your secret indulgence? Definitely living room dance parties-SOLO! Not much of a secret anymore, now is it?
5. If someone handed you $1,000 tomorrow what would you spend it on? I would very selfishly purchase the perfect pair of black pumps…Louboutins, of course!
6. What do you never leave home without? Chapstick. Definitely, Chapstick!
7. What is your favorite meal of the day? Dinner. This is the meal that my youngest son and I cook together, and the one I will cherish for years to come, I hope.
8. What makes you laugh? Really, anything! I can find the humor in most situations and even laugh at myself sometimes, but the thing that makes me laugh the most is my son’s laughter. It is definitely contagious.
9. Who would be your ideal dinner party guests? My brother. I have not had dinner with him in years…so, yes, my brother.
10. What was the last thing you googled? Angel Tree bulletin board displays…I am trying a more creative approach to the standard Christmas tree display.
Those were some tough questions, Vickie! Now it is time to share a few of the blogs that inspire me on a daily basis.
1. roymartinministries.wordpress.com
3. marmarthunder.wordpress.com
5. isingbecauseimfree.wordpress.com
Related articles
- Sunshine and Laughter (wateringcanblog.com)
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What If We Were Real?
We keep trying to make it look so nice, and we keep hiding what’s going on inside. But, what if I share my brokenness? What if you share how you feel? And, what if we weren’t afraid of this crazy mess? What if we were real?
These are some of the lyrics to a Mandisa song that I have come to love, one that expresses just how I feel when it comes to doing something that can be so hard for many people-being honest and vulnerable. Too often we put on masks and carry around our burdens, hiding ourselves and our struggles from the outside world. We don’t want people to know that we think we are lousy mother’s, that we don’t have it all together, or that some days we just want to throw in the towel, find the nearest and tallest mountain, and let out one huge scream!
Well, I’m tired of saying everything I feel like I am supposed to say. I’m tired of smiling all the time. I wanna throw the mask away. Sometimes you just have a bad day. Sometimes you just wanna scream. Tell me I’m not the only one. Tell me you feel just like me.
This weekend 19 ladies from our church spent a glorious and much overdue weekend away in Nagshead, North Carolina. We packed all of our necessities for the weekend. We brought along our chairs, blankets, hair dryers, and we also brought along a heavy set of burdens. Burdens that we had carried for weeks, months, even years. We brought them along with us, hoping to not have to unpack them. Hoping they would stay hidden at the bottom of the suitcase, and never be seen.
What if we were real?
God uses all kinds of people to bless the lives of those around them, and to do His work, and this weekend was no exception. Burdens we thought only we carried, those we packed, and wanted to remain hidden, were finally dropped from each woman’s shoulders, and not only given to God, but used to touch each woman in a mighty way. God’s longing to finally make these strong women just a little more vulnerable revealed that none of us have it all together, that most of us think we are lousy mothers, and we all want to find the closest, tallest mountain top and scream!
What if we were real?
We’d think a little less of ourselves. We’d care about someone else, ’cause we’d know just how they feel. Maybe we could let someone love us. Maybe we could be a little more like Jesus.
We all packed suitcases and bags on Sunday to return home. We packed our beach chairs, our hair dryers, and our blankets, but we left a little lighter than before. We left even stronger. We left full of love for each other and our differences. For each struggle. For each burden. We left a little more real!
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Sin in a Gold Wrapper
For he satisfies the thirsty, and fills the hungry with good things. Psalm 107:9
If you take a good look at the picture of one of the now several candy buckets we have in our home-our constant reminder of Halloween-you will see something is missing. It is the chocolate and caramel covered cookie that comes wrapped in the tantalizing and dazzling gold wrapper. The sweet goodness known as Twix. Yes, I dug through several buckets of candy and confiscated every one of those miniature candy bars!
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be enslaved by anything. 1 Corinthians 6:12
In truth, all things really are not lawful for me, especially cookies, even chocolate and caramel covered ones. Although they are certainly good, cookies, cakes, breads, and anything else of the like are not good and helpful to me. But, when those Twix are in my kitchen taunting me and calling my name, I forget my intolerance to wheat. I forget that my body is a temple to be taken care of and cherished as the image of God. I forget once again that the devil is appealing to one of my earthly desires-food and chocolate. I dive right into the bucket for just one, then just one more. Oh, heck, this is the last one, I promise! Until one Twix has become six!
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. Titus 2:11-12
See, I lack self-control when it comes to many things, and food happens to be one of them. Cookies, candy, Doritos, Utz Crab chips, and a homecooked or Mexican dish all appeal to my taste buds. Yes, I am small. I am petite, and I am blessed with my parents’ “thin” genes, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have a hard time controlling myself with a plate of nachos, at the dessert buffet, or with a bucket of Halloween candy. It doesn’t mean I don’t struggle with resisting fried chicken, burgers, fries, or pizza-all the things that are “lawful,” but certainly not helpful to my body.
Although our problems with the temptation of overindulging on food seems like small potatoes in terms of sin, the Bible is clear about our desire and temptation to place a large amount of emphasis and time on food. Proverbs 23:2-3 is clear about our cravings: Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
Sure, food is essential for our health and to sustain life, but it should not rule our hearts and minds. God wants our “cravings” to be for Him, not the Twix in the candy jar.
No temptation has overtaken you that is not uncommon to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
Our escape from temptation can begin with a reliance on Him to help us with our self-control and the willpower to overcome our desires for the things that are not helpful. It is saying, “No,” to the Twix, and picking up the Bible to chew on God’s Word instead. It is craving more time with Him before dinner, instead of succumbing to the craving of Chinese takeout. It is knowing that only God will satisfy this sweet tooth, and that only He can give the sweetness of life for which we all thirst-something that a bucket full of Twix will never do!
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We Are All the Least of These
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Lynchburg, Virginia to spend a week immersing myself in a class I had to take as part of my Professional Counseling curriculum at Liberty University. For weeks, months even, I stressed about and dreaded the thought of spending the money to travel, and spending a week in a hotel room, days with strangers, and a week away from my family. I eventually sucked it up and kept telling myself: “It is just a week, just another graduation requirement. No big deal, right?
Wrong! What I once thought was simply a class requirement ended up being an often grueling, rather nerve-wracking, yet, life changing experience.
See, before I traveled to Lynchburg to embark on this phase of my college journey, I thought I was pretty tolerant and willing to show grace of others sins. I thought I had it all together, and that I was unbiased, empathetic, and well-versed at showing Biblical grace.
Wrong again! I was pretty tolerant. I was rather empathetic, and could usually place myself in other’s shoes, but it took facing my own demons of the past, and discovering why I built my own walls to quickly find out I had so much more to learn. So much further to go on this journey to grace.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Titus 2:11
When we give our lives to God, and begin to navigate our way through newfound salvation and newfound life in Christ, we often forget that we are still natural-born sinners. We often think: “I have been made new. I have turned from my evil ways, and I am free. Free to judge others sin. Free to criticize those who do wrong, and point the finger at those who do wrong. I have it all together now, right? Wrong!
Let’s be frank and honest, here. We are all sinners. We all have demons in our past. We all have struggles with our flesh, mind, and spirit. My sin is no less and no more than anyone else’s, and coming to terms with this, tearing down the walls that say “I am right, and you are wrong” is how we begin to walk the path towards showing the grace of God.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Luke 19:10
Jesus was the friend of sinners, come to die for the least of these, dying on a cross between two men sentenced for their crimes, and dying at the hands of a nation who believed they were right, and Jesus was wrong. Still, Jesus knew that each sin was no more and no less.
Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. Romans 3:24
That dreaded week away from home was not just another class I needed to take to graduate, but a challenge from God for me to become more tolerant, more forgiving, more patient, more empathetic, and more willing to show grace-to fellow followers of Christ, to those who don’t believe, and to the least of these; to point them all to healing power of Christ, and most importantly to crossover the line and love like He did.
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Crushed by the Bread of Life
I am exhausted and completely crushed. My groans come from an anguished heart. You know what I long for Lord; you hear my every sigh. Psalm 38: 8-9
The picture above happens to be one of my biggest supermarket pet peeves. No, it isn’t the fact that the hair dye was bagged with the eggs-that is another tangent all together. It is that somewhere underneath all of that stuff lies a loaf of bread-one that is now crushed. Bread I had to reshape and rebag in the parking lot of my local Harris Teeter.
Since I am human, and too often driven by my emotions, for a split second I thought about marching back in the store to share my opinion and disdain at my new lumpy loaf of bread, but then I began to think about all the other times my bread has been crushed. Every shopping trip to be exact! “Why does this happen to me each time I grocery shop? Why do I always end up with the crushed bread?”
“He was oppressed and treated harshly yet he never said a word.” Isaiah 53:7
You are probably wondering what a crushed loaf of bread has to do with God, or how I could see a connection between my propensity to leave the store with bread buried under a stack of groceries and God, but we also know He speaks to us through the simplest of circumstances. So, on this day…yes, He happened to speak to me through a loaf of bread-a loaf of bread that had been crushed in the same way many of us have been.
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven by despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
How many times in my own life have I resembled that loaf of bread? Crushed under the pressure and burden of all the things, situations and circumstances that were mounting on top of me? Yet, even though I was crushed under the weight of life’s storms and trials, God has never left me. Although He may have allowed me to endure the burden for a while, He never failed to deliver me from the bottom of the mounting pile of stuff weighing me down and crushing my spirit. Each time he has picked me up, reshaped me, and “re-bagged” me with a renewed heart, kneading this crushed loaf of despair into a new one of fresh hope and faith.
About Me
I am January! Wife, mother, meemaw, pastor, and mental health provider who makes it through the day with my coffee, my journal, and my God. A simple human, navigating life through the messy and sometimes chaotic. All focused on Him.
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Grace 'n Grounds 